Some items from around the multiverse:\t<\/p>\n
It is no surprise that information about us is required to make predictions for our observations. Our data suggest that we are located some 13.7Gyr from a Big Bang. To make a reliable prediction from that information, we have to assume that it describes our physical situation. If the universe is rife with delusion, we must assume that we are atypical in order to have predictive and testable scientific theories. Indeed, it is only by making such assumptions that we are able to do science in a very large universe. We imagine that even Copernicus would have agreed that it was necessary to assume that Ptolemy was not deluded in his observations of the planets.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The authors thank about a dozen or so other theorists for their help with this.<\/li>\n
World Science Festival 2008 here in New York was a huge success, and I suspect that the 2009 version starting June 10 will be too, which is great. Of the many events, one where I might have a difference of opinion with some of the panelists will be a session on Infinite Worlds: A Journey through Parallel Universes<\/a>, sponsored by the Templeton Foundation.<\/li>\n Seed magazine had a story<\/a> a couple months ago about the theological implications of the multiverse.<\/li>\n Astrophysicist Jeffrey Zweerink has a book out called Who’s Afraid of the Multiverse?<\/a><\/li>\n Over at FQXI there’s a recent blog entry<\/a> discussing the question of whether God might be “unsure as to whether He is really just a brain floating in a vat?”<\/li>\n Somehow I missed this one last year. Wheaton College held a research symposium on String Theory and the Multiverse: Philosophical and Theological Implications<\/a>.<\/li>\n Update<\/strong>: For a more skeptical and philosophical take on the multiverse, there’s The Unique Universe<\/a>, a piece by Lee Smolin that just came out in the latest Physics World.<\/p>\n
Update<\/strong>: The proceedings of the Wheaton College conference on string theory, the Multiverse and theology are available here<\/a>. They include audio recordings of the discussions, and inform us that string theory<\/p>\n
implies that physical reality is far vaster and possesses greater grandeur than ever imagined.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some items from around the multiverse: Srednicki and Hartle have a new preprint on hep-th about Science in a Very Large Universe. Like many other multiverse papers, it doesn’t really have any equations in it, so it’s a bit hard … Continue reading